1. Field
This invention relates to X-ray machines and is particularly directed to X-ray tube head assemblies suspended on structures permitting the positioning of the beam emitting device within a sterile field. Specifically, it provides a removable, sterilizable handle in combination with such tube head assemblies.
2. State of the Art
A class of X-ray machines has evolved for use in situations requiring manipulation of the tube head assembly within a sterile field. Notable among these machines are those used in dental practices, although similar machines requiring mobility of the tube head assembly within the sterile area are in use in the practices of medicine and veterinary medicine. It is not generally feasible to maintain the entire X-ray apparatus completely sterile during a procedure. Thus, if the X-ray tube head assembly is to be moved during a procedure, it must ordinarily be moved by non-sterile personnel who may not intrude into the sterile area. If sterile personnel come into contact with the non-sterile tube head assembly, procedures must be followed to reestablish the required sterility. For example, it may be required for an attendant who has readjusted the positioning of the X-ray apparatus to re-glove after each such manipulation. Such procedures are time consuming and wasteful. They also present a substantial risk of inadvertent contamination.
In four-handed dentistry procedures particularly, it would be a great convenience if the X-ray tube head assembly could be manipulated by the dental assistant without compromising the sterility of the hands of the assistant. Frequent manipulations may be required during procedures which require the dental assistant to otherwise intrude into the sterile field. Re-gloving and other precautionary procedures are disruptive and distracting.
Removable sterilizable handles or disposable sterile handles have been used previously in connection with lighting fixtures used in operatories. Examples of such handles are disclosed by U.S. Design Pat. Nos. D 279,611 and 289,206, for example, as well as by U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,252.
There remains a need for a sterilizable mechanism for isolating an operator's hand from contact with the non-sterile housing of a tube head assembly while it is manipulated within the sterile field.